Incubo
by SangatsuRose
Summary: Katara has gone missing, but worrying about her safety isn't the only thing plaguing Aang. A sudden series of nightmares and strange visions, accompanied by visitations from a strange spirit. Team Avatar will be faced with a threat unlike any other. Rated M for violence.
1. Chapter 1

_Hi everyone! Oh boy...this story is gonna be dark. It is a collaboration between me and some friends, thanks so much to them for all the ideas!_

* * *

The first thing that Katara registered as she cracked open her eyes was the sensation of pain shooting through her head. She winced, bringing her hand up to the side of her head, sensing what felt like dried blood in her hair. Her eyes snapped open in panic, and she was met with the sight of a small, concrete cell around her.

She stood up, running to the metal door and peeking through the eyehole and started to bang on it. "Hey! Let me out of here!" She screamed.

Nothing.

After minutes of banging and screaming, Katara kicked the door in frustration, and turned around. _What happened to me? Where am I?_

She bit her lip, going through the events of the day (was it even the same day?). _I went to the Business Council meeting with Aang, and then we went home for the rest of the day. _She thought. _And then I went to take a walk in the evening…_

Suddenly, it came back to her. The walk she went on while Aang took a nap on the couch. She had noticed a man following her, and tried to turn down several street corners to throw him off, but it proved to be to no avail, as he suddenly appeared before her in front of an alleyway. The last thing she remembered was the man suddenly earthbending up a large rock, and then nothing.

Katara clenched her fists tightly, feeling scared but refusing to just sit around and do nothing. Her waterskin was gone, so she closed her eyes, and concentrated hard, trying to feel the water in the air around her.

And...there was nothing.

_Calm down, Katara. Stop panicking. Just focus._

Nothing, once again. She swallowed hard.

_Okay, so you can't get any water from the air. Try to look for another way out._

She spent the next half hour exploring every inch of her cell, looking for a loose or weak brick, or some kind of hole, anything! She even tried opening the door (unsurprisingly - it was locked).

Feeling tears welling up in her eyes, she kicked at the wall, and jumped as she heard the door unlock. She readied herself in a defense position, ready to attack at any moment.

The man who had followed her earlier appeared. He was tall - probably over six feet - and muscular. He had a long, dark beard and mustache, and his deep brown eyes bore into her with a sinister glare. "Well, well, looks like you woke up."

"Whoever you are, I don't care. Let me go, now. It won't end well for you if you don't," Katara threatened. She was met with a bellowing laugh, only angering her further. "I wouldn't be so sure about that! You aren't getting out of here anytime soon."

Katara lunged at the man with a yell, using every ounce of strength to punch and kick and push at him. He simply continued laughing, and suddenly grabbed her by the arms and slammed her against the wall. Katara let out a cry of pain as her head hit the concrete. Nevertheless, she continued to flail and kick at him.

"You listen here," the man growled. "You aren't getting out of here. Not until we get what we want."

His grip on her suddenly tightened as he threw her down on the floor, spitting on the ground next to her. As he turned back to leave, Katara stood up.

It wasn't something she wanted to do. In fact, she felt sick to her stomach at the thought of it, but was desperate and had no other choice. She closed her eyes, trying to sense the water in the man's body…

But there was nothing. Again.

"W-what?!"

The man turned around, noticing her position, and smiled. "Trying to bloodbend, huh? Won't work. You're chi blocked."

He slammed the door shut, leaving Katara to sob in anger.

* * *

"_Katara!"_

_Aang called out to her in a panic as he watched her be thrown against the concrete wall, and then the floor. He wasn't sure why, but he couldn't move. His whole body was frozen. All he could do was watch and cry. He knew something even worse was to come._

"Aang!"

Aang awoke with a start, his eyes slowly blinking open. "Huh—?"

Sokka was shaking him awake. "Aang, get up. Katara's not here."

The Avatar sat up, his brows furrowed. "Wait, what?"

"She left a note here that she went out for a walk. Suki, Toph, and I just got back and she's still not home," Sokka said. "What time is it?" Aang asked.

"It's 10, Aang!"

Aang shot up, feeling panic creep in. "It's 10?! She wouldn't be out that late!"

"I know! That's why we're kind of freaking out right now! Toph's out right now trying to find her."

Aang wasted no time in putting his shoes on and grabbing his staff. "I'm going out too. One of you needs to stay here in case she comes back."

"I'll stay," Suki offered. She gave Sokka a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. "Good luck. Please be safe."

It was midnight now, and there was still no sign of her. Aang, Sokka, and Toph had all stopped any locals that happened to be out, asking if they had seen her. Nobody had.

Aang had tears welling up in his eyes as he landed on the street their house was on. His hands and legs were shaking and he felt sick to his stomach. Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from a house on the other side of the street. An older woman was blowing out the torch that was lit on her porch. Aang ran over and yelled, "Excuse me!"

The woman seemed startled, but gave Aang a smile. "Hello, Avatar Aang. What can I—"

"—My girlfriend went out on a walk earlier and never came back. Have you seen her?"

The woman's eyebrows furrowed in concern. "You mean that pretty little Water Tribe girl? I did see her, actually. Around the center of town, she was walking kind of fast, and then she turned a corner. I never saw her after that."

"Did you notice anything else?"

"Hm...not too much. Now that I think about it, I suppose she looked a little bit concerned. I didn't think much of it, though."

Aang took a shaky breath, biting his lip. "Okay," he choked out. "Thanks."

"Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help," she said. "I hope she comes home soon."

"Yeah, me too."

"We need to go to the police," Sokka said as the group met back up at their house. "I have a really awful feeling about this."

Toph nodded in agreement. "It's not like Sugar Queen to just take off without saying anything. Not that she'd even have anywhere to go."

As the two of them talked about what to do next, Aang was currently thinking back to the dream he'd had earlier that evening. _Why would I dream something like that…? And then this happened…_

He shook off the thought as they headed towards the police station, his hope dwindling that this would all be resolved soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Katara was startled awake by the sound of her door opening, and a booming voice that yelled, "Get up!"

She snarled at the man, and cried out when he grabbed her, delivering a series of jabs to various points on her body, assuring that she would still be unable to bend. He then took a pair of metal handcuffs, putting them on her wrists and pulled her forward. "Follow me."

Katara resisted. "I'm not following you anywhere. Let me go!" She tugged away from him, staring at him with an intense hatred she'd felt only a few other times in her life.

"Bathroom break," the man said. "Unless you wanna go piss in the corner over there."

Katara clenched her teeth, deciding that there might be a way to escape. She complied, following him out the door.

The corridor was dark and cold, with a musty smell filling the air. The walls had rust and dirt on them, and Katara got the sense that the building had been abandoned for quite some time. "What is this place? Where are we?"

"It's a building," the man said. "We're in the Earth Kingdom."

"_Obviously_," Katara retorted. "Where in the Earth Kingdom?"

"It doesn't matter."

Katara sighed in frustration, realizing that she wasn't going to get any information out of him. As they walked past a room with the door open, Katara saw a few other men inside, all of whom stopped what they were doing to stare at her. "Is that her? The Avatar's girl?" One of them asked.

The man guiding her nodded and said, "Mhm. She's a feisty one, too. Should be fun."

The men in the room all laughed, and before Katara could respond, she found herself being thrust into a small bathroom. He removed her handcuffs and said, "You have five minutes," before slamming the door shut.

Katara's heart was pounding as she looked all around the room, looking for anything she could use to escape. She checked each of the corners, around the toilet, in the small cabinet underneath the sink, to no avail. That was when she noticed a small patch of dirt over against one of the walls. She pawed at it with her nails, not really sure herself what she was trying to find or do, but was willing to try anything.

All she found was a rock, smaller than the size of her palm, but still a good enough size to throw at someone. She nodded to herself, putting the rock inside her shirt. She waited in silence for the next few minutes before the man yelled, "Time's up!"

Katara swallowed back the lump in her throat as he pulled out her handcuffs once again. Knowing she had to act now, she yanked the rock from her shirt, and with every bit of strength in her body, threw it at the man, hitting him in the eye.

The man yelled out in pain, reeling back as he clutched at his eye, and Katara ran. Knowing that another group of men awaited her back in the direction of her cell, she ran the opposite way, as fast as her feet would carry her. Only seconds later she heard the man yell, "She bolted! Get her!"

The sounds of several feet running towards her only fueled Katara's adrenaline rush. It wasn't long before she came to a dead end, the only path being a small room towards her left. She went inside, shutting the door behind her. It was then that she saw a small window, one that would just be large enough for her to squeeze through. She nearly cried from joy as she went to open it. It was difficult, and obvious that the window hadn't been opened in years. "Come on…!" She said to herself, as she thrust the window up. It seemed to get stuck at about halfway, but it was better than nothing. She heard the men getting closer and knew this was her only shot.

Sticking her leg out the window, the door to the room burst open. She let out a small cry as she tried to get herself out—

—And then, they grabbed her.

"_NO!_" Katara screamed, elbowing and kicking at her captors. She screamed as loud as she could, hoping that by some slim chance, someone would hear her through the open window and come save her.

She was suddenly yanked from the window, ripping her pants underneath her leg, which also resulted in a large scratch. She had no time to react to the pain as she was slammed down on the ground, and a hand on her neck. He squeezed, not hard enough to restrict her air flow, but enough to cause her a great amount of discomfort. A punch was then delivered to her face, with enough force to send her head flying sideways.

"Don't. _Ever. _Try that again. Do you understand me?" The man's face was inches from her own and she cried softly, refusing to look him in the eye.

"I said," he squeezed her neck tighter. "Do you understand me."

Katara bit her lip, still refusing to look at him, but nodded.

"_Katara—!"_

Katara's eyes widened and she gasped. "A—Aang?!"

The men all looked at her in alert. The one pinning her down said, "What did you just say?"

"Aang, is that you?!" She called out.

Everyone remained silent for a few seconds. "Did you hear anything?" One of the men asked.

They all said, "no", and the man in charge ordered the rest of them to check the premises for any sign of the Avatar.

"This better not be another one of your damn tricks," he said to her, putting her handcuffs back on and yanking her to her feet.

"I heard him!" She yelled. "I heard him, he's here!"

A few minutes later, some of the men returned. "We looked everywhere. No sign of him."

"You think she was trying to distract us?"

"—No! He called my name!" Katara insisted.

The man in charge gave her a snarky grin. "Aww, poor thing. You miss your little boyfriend so much you're hearing his voice. How sweet."

He pulled her into the hallway, and returned her to her cell. The man grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. "Don't worry," he said. "Your boyfriend will be here, in due time. But first, we're gonna have a little bit of fun with you."

And with that, he left her alone once more.

* * *

_Aang watched in horror as he saw Katara being pulled back. Suddenly, a large amount of blood appeared on the back of her leg and she was thrown to the ground once more, being punched by the figure holding her down._

"_Katara!" He cried out. Once again, he found himself unable to move, only speak._

"_Aang?!"_

"_Katara, I'm here! I'm gonna get you out of here!" He said, although was unsure himself how he'd do that if he couldn't move. _

_Suddenly, she disappeared from his sight, and he found himself standing in complete darkness. He could move now, and ran forward, trying to find something, or someone. "Katara!" He called again._

_He felt someone breath on the back of his neck, and whipped around. A spirit was there, and looked something like a large black mass with golden eyes. "Avatar Aang…," it said. It's voice wasn't like any voice Aang had ever heard before. It almost felt more like he was hearing the voice inside his mind, rather than with his ears._

"_Who are you?! Can you help me?"_

"_I...can help…"_

"_Please, Katara's missing and I think she's being hurt! You have to help me find her!"_

_Everything started to become hazy, and Aang could tell that his dream was fading. The spirit began to dissolve in front of him. "No, wait! Please! Don't go!"_

"_Don't ...seek me out ...," it said. "I will...come to you…."_

Aang gasped as he woke up, sitting up quickly. His heart was pounding, and breathing labored. He noticed then that he was on the floor of his bedroom, and it was morning now.

"Aang!" Sokka called out, appearing in the doorway. "Come on. The search party is starting soon."

"Oh...okay," Aang said, still disoriented from his dream. "Be there in a sec."

He absentmindedly made his way to the bathroom, splashing some water on his face and washing his hands. When he was done, he ran into Suki in the hallway. She gave him a sad smile and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You doing okay?" Realizing how that might've come across, she corrected herself, "I mean, I know you're not..._okay_, but…"

Aang pursed his lips. "I...well…"

"What is it?"

"I've had these...dreams. Two of them. One last night when I took a nap, and one just now before I woke up."

"What kind of dreams?"

"Dreams about Katara," he said, swallowing back the lump forming in his throat. "In both dreams, I can see her. There's figures around her - I can't really see what they are or what they look like - and they've been hurting her. Slamming her against the wall and floors, punching her...it's so awful."

"Aang...I know that this is hard. Try not to dwell on them too much, okay? They're gonna stress you out even more."

"But why would I have a dream like that _before _I knew she was missing?" He said. "I don't know, these dreams feel...more like premonitions...—"

"—Aang! Suki! Come on!" Sokka called. His voice was firm, and Aang could hear the panic in it, despite Sokka's attempt to hide it.

On the one hand, Aang was relieved that the search party for that day ended with no leads. It helped Aang to push back the thought that she was…gone.

But on the other hand, it made him think more and more about his visions. The thought of anyone laying a hand on her was enough to make him sick to his stomach. He had mentioned his dreams to Sokka and Toph at some point during the day. Toph said nothing, and Sokka brushed it off as his imagination (although Aang suspected he was telling him that just to calm his own nerves).

The group returned home that night exhausted, scared, and in tears. Aang collapsed as soon as he walked through the door, holding his head in his hands. He began to sob to the point of being unable to catch his breath. Seeing Aang break down was enough to send Sokka over the edge as well, and he stormed up to his and Suki's bedroom, the latter following him there.

"Twinkle Toes...," Toph said. Comforting others was definitely not Toph's best quality, but she sat down with him, putting a hand on his back. They sat there until Aang fell into a restless sleep.


End file.
